The Light in the Ruins
By Chris Bohjalian

Best-selling and versatile novelist Bohjalian (The Sandcastle Girls, 2012) returns to crime fiction in his fifteenth novel. In Florence in 1955, Francesca Rosati—still beautiful and aloof, though grieving for her husband and children—is murdered, her heart wrenched from her body. A serial killer is at work, preying on the Rosati family. Serafina Bettini, Florence’s only woman detective, wonders if the war has something to do with this gruesome vendetta.

Unpacking a Standard with Mysteries
By Julie Green

Mysteries are adventure and challenge wrapped up together. The best mysteries for youth draw young readers in right away with exhilarating intrigue. They present a problem fairly quickly in the text, and then give readers a chance to solve it all on their own as they follow the clues dangled tantalizingly throughout the story. Mysteries also provide opportunities for students to read closely, pay careful attention to story details, and to make inferences—all activities that are emphasized in the Common Core State Standards! Below are suggestions for implementing CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.1–6.1 with notable youth mysteries.

One Last Job: 6 Crooks Who Should Have Quit While They Were Behind
By Bill Ott

Advice to all good-hearted crooks who want to get out of the game: don’t do “one last job.” It won’t work. Never Does. Never. It doesn’t matter what the reasons may be—help the kids you abandoned, get back together with the ex-wife you still love, put together a stash and hightail it for Costa Rica—by the end of job, you’ll either be dead or worse off than when you started. The chimerical one last job offers only a one-way ticket on the Oblivion Express. Don’t believe it? Follow the thin red line of these noir heroes from illusion to reality.

Boot Tracks . By Matthew F. Jones. 2006. 208p. Europa, paper, $14.95 (9781933372112).

Sleuths on Screen: 15 Famous Detectives and the Actors Who Played Them
By Ben Segedin

Adapting popular crime series for television and the movies comes with the challenge of casting the correct actors in the part of beloved characters. Casting the wrong actor in a role can condemn a series to a single outing, but good casting can create a franchise (and make billions of dollars, as in the case of James Bond—$6 billion and still counting). The actor is often the character since many more people may see the movies than will read the books. The actor in a crime series will forever define the character—until he or she is replaced by a younger actor. The James Bond series has survived and prospered using numerous actors in the starring role. Other franchises keep trying to find the perfect actor for the part. The Jack Ryan series is about to feature its fourth Jack Ryan in five films. Some characters transcend nationalities.

At Leisure with Joyce Saricks: Crime for Armchair Travelers
By Joyce Saricks

Like you, I look forward to Booklist’s Mystery Showcase every May. Not only do I devour the reviews—and reserve far more titles than I’ll ever have time to read—but I also eagerly anticipate discovering Bill Ott’s chosen location for his Hard-Boiled Gazetteer. Over the past 15 years, he’s taken us across the U.S. (for example, Chicago, Southern California, New York City, Pacific Northwest) and to international locales from Italy to Scandinavia, Great Britain, Russia, and beyond.

The hard-boiled crime novel may have originated here in the U.S., but it has clearly gone international. We can read about grisly murders, intriguing investigations, and dangerous characters around the world.